


Common Cure

by Stripe



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Grimdark, Sick Character, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5694097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stripe/pseuds/Stripe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade returns from her weekly witch's meeting to tend to her sick girlfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Common Cure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wintercourse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintercourse/gifts).



> For the prompt: 
> 
> "Jade, Rose, Feferi and Aradia as witches! Mainly Jade/Rose, but feel free to add Feferi and/or Aradia to the mix romance wise, that'd be super great! If there's anyone you don't want to include that's fine too! Any type of witchcraft as well, although I love urban fantasy, witches in the big city/shoebox apartment type of stuff! Bonus points for some manifestation of grimdark/bark or horrorterrors, can be as angsty/dark/fluffy as you want (as long as there's femslash involved I'm game!)"
> 
> Unfortunately, I did not have time to incorporate Aradia and Feferi as any more than honorable mentions, but rest assured, they are also witchy girlfriends together who get up to all sorts of wacky adventures on their own time.

Jade had an extra skip to her step as she approached her apartment building. Aradia had finally managed to perfect the glamor spell that would properly hide Jade’s dog ears from unaware humans, so for once, she was able to experience the full sights and sounds of the city without hearing things muffled through a hat or hood or whatever head-covering was most appropriate. 

It was a shame that Rose had needed to stay behind for the meeting, as Jade would have loved to walk with her, arm-in-arm, down the sidewalk back to their apartment. But a cold was a cold, and it was generally deemed that bringing a virus into spell work was too often risky business. Sickness lead to fever and loss of focus, and sometimes the microorganisms could spell havoc for particularly tricky incantations.

Still, there would always be next week to show off her girlfriend, and Jade was determined to remain optimistic about the whole thing. At the very least, Feferi had given her a home-brewed potion which she swore up and down would cure the common cold in a heartbeat. Jade’s more scientific side couldn't help but be skeptical, but Feferi had cured seemingly impossible ailments before. It was possible. If nothing else, there was always chicken noodle soup.

She hopped into the stairwell, making sure it was clear before she teleported herself up to the landing of the thirteenth floor. As always, teleportation was so much quicker than the often-broken elevator. 

That done, she strolled down the hallway to the apartment that she and Rose shared, going with an extra skip in her step, but as soon as she reached their front door, she could sense that something was wrong. Jade wasn’t as attuned to magical senses as certain people were, but she could still sense magical presences that were strong enough - and this one certainly was. 

Her smile fell, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Carefully, she opened the door. “Rose?” she called out, slowly stepping inside and shutting the door behind her. “How are you feeling?”

“O hpy tof pg yjr vpaf.”

Jade’s stomach sank as she heard that voice, cracked and distorted. She set down the goods she’d picked up from Aradia and Feferi and began to inch into the living room, where the shadows of unseen tentacles covered the walls. And there, sitting on the couch with gray skin and glowing white hair, was her wonderful, stupid girlfriend.

“Rose, you know you shouldn’t conjure when you’re sick!” Jade said, slowly and carefully making her way over to the couch. She knew from experience that the tentacles and Rose would remain docile so long as she did nothing to antagonize them. “You always end up like this, and you never listen.”

“O fpmy drr ejsyd dp nsf snpiy yjod,” Rose replied in a hiss.

“You need to stop letting them into your head.” Jade sat down next to Rose on the couch - not close enough to be touching her, but close enough to be in arms reach. “You know that gray skin is a bad look for you!”

Rose mumbled something under her breath that would have been unintelligible, even if she hadn't been speaking the long dead language of gods from an alternate plane of existence. Still, Jade had a good idea of what Rose was saying. She was still Rose, under all of the gray skin and terror. She could be dangerous if provoked, but Jade knew how to handle this. 

“No, Rose. I am serious! I prefer my girlfriends to be very not-possessed when I kiss them and cuddle them.”

“Niy-”

“And I do not care if you're sick!” Jade crossed her arms over her chest and distinctly leaned away from Rose. The shadows on the walls writhed with discomfort. “No cuddles _or_ kisses until you expel the horrorterrors from your head. No exceptions!”

Jade tried to keep her head turned away for maximum aloofness, but she couldn’t help but peek at Rose through her peripheral vision. Rose was outright pouting, the mix of sick and grimdarkness rendering her usual stoic barriers weak. But finally, slowly, color seeped back into her skin, the shadows on the wall receding back into oblivion. Jade could feel the dark presence leaving the room, and so she slowly relaxed her posture.

“There,” Rose said. “I’m now completely free of Yjr Fstl Aptfd- I mean, the horrorterrors.”

Jade narrowed her eyes, her dog ears lying flat against her head. “Rose, I heard that slip into Eldritch! Get rid of all of them, or no kisses!”

Rose groaned a little bit, slouching back into the couch. “Jade, I do not see why this is such a big deal. I can handle a minor possession.”

“I don’t care! What if, in the middle of kissing you, your mouth turns into a tentacle? That would be super gross and unpleasant!” 

A wry little smile crossed Rose’s face. “Oh, I don’t know. If it were me, I’d find it more… exhilarating.” 

Jade lightly pushed Rose in the shoulder - enough to show her displeasure, but not enough to actually hurt her in any way. “Rose, just because you have a weird tentacle fetish does not mean the rest of the world has one as well. And the point still stands. Turn aaaaalll the way back, or no kisses.”

Rose let out a dramatic sigh and placed the back of her hand to her forehead, as though Jade has asked the world of her. “All I wanted to do is get rid of my cold, and this is how you treat me?”

“Roooose, you know how bad they are for you!”

“I know.” She took one deep breath, and then turned to face Jade fully. When she spoke, her voice croaked a little bit, just like it had been before Jade had left. “There. The unseemly gods from the other realm have left my person, leaving me sick and gross as I was before you left me.”

Jade grinned and leaned in to place a peck on Rose’s lips, as a reward. “Much better. I prefer sick Rose to possessed Rose, any day.”

“And how lucky are you that I am a powerful enough witch to brush off possession of an otherwordly entity as easily as taking a pleasant walk around the block,” Rose said. “Though I fail to see how kissing me when I am slightly possessed is grosser than kissing me when my cold is in full effect. Are germs really more acceptable than potential tentacles?”

“Yes.” Jade leaned in and kisses her again, then again. “Besides, Feferi brewed something to cure your cold. So if you get me sick too, then we can share.” 

“Well, that being the case, I am more than happy to share my germs with you,” Rose said. Jade grinned and climbed into her lap, and she very quickly lost track of time. 

As it turned out, Feferi’s remedy did not cure the common cold, and next week’s city witches meeting saw Rose going in without her sick girlfriend to inform Feferi that she would need to go back to the drawing board on that remedy. 

But for the meantime, there was always chicken noodle soup.


End file.
